U.S. patent number 5,615,850 [Application Number 08/398,696] was granted by the patent office on 1997-04-01 for wire support bracket.
Invention is credited to Leonard W. Cloninger.
United States Patent |
5,615,850 |
Cloninger |
April 1, 1997 |
Wire support bracket
Abstract
An improved wire bracket for use in construction which can be
used to hold and organize electrical wires within holes located in
the bracket. The bracket has two separable portions with a
breakaway line separating the two portions, each of the individual
portions having holes formed therein through which wire is
threaded. The bracket further having reinforced mounting flanges or
plates oriented on each of the three axes of the bracket to provide
flexibility in mounting the bracket on different construction
members.
Inventors: |
Cloninger; Leonard W. (East
Helena, MT) |
Family
ID: |
23576426 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/398,696 |
Filed: |
March 6, 1995 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
248/68.1;
248/909; 211/26 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F16L
3/22 (20130101); H02G 3/26 (20130101); Y10S
248/909 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F16L
3/22 (20060101); F16L 003/22 () |
Field of
Search: |
;248/68.1,65,49,909
;211/26 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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|
|
|
|
|
|
2715394 |
|
Oct 1978 |
|
DE |
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1580213 |
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Nov 1980 |
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GB |
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Primary Examiner: Chotkowski; Karen J.
Assistant Examiner: King; Anita M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Conover; Richard C.
Claims
I claim:
1. A wire bracket, to be fastened to a construction member, for
holding and organizing electrical wire comprising;
an elongated body having a length, width, and depth axis;
the elongated body having a first portion and a second portion
separated by a breakaway line;
the elongated body further having a plurality of holes extending
through the depth of the elongated body and spaced along the length
of the elongated body in both the first and second portions through
which holes the electrical wire is to be threaded;
a plurality of reinforced fastener accepting means, positioned
parallel to each of the three axes, for use in fastening the wire
bracket to the construction member; and
indexing fingers extending outwardly from the body for indexing the
bracket on a construction member.
2. The wire bracket according to claim 1 wherein the reinforced
fastener accepting means along the length and width axes includes a
flange with a screw hole extending through the flange.
3. The wire bracket according to claim 1 wherein the reinforced
fastener accepting means along the depth axis includes an embedded
plate with a screw hole extending through the embedded plate.
4. The wire bracket according to claim 1 wherein the holes of the
body are circular.
5. The wire bracket according to claim 1 wherein the construction
member comprises a wooden "I" beam having a web and the bracket is
sized to space wires extending through the holes a predetermined
distance from a side of the web opposite the side on which the
bracket is mounted.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an improved bracket for holding
electrical wire on ceilings, floors, and other construction
members.
As buildings are constructed, electrical wiring is run from a
circuit breaker panel out to the various outlets, switches, and
equipment being used in the building. In the past, wiring cable has
often been stapled to building members such as floor joists,
vertical studs, or ceiling joists or rafters. Bundles of wire so
stapled often become very confusing making it hard to trace
individual circuits, or to present a clean, professional look to
the finished job when many of the runs are just a mass of
individual wires.
In addition, the National Electrical Code (NEC) requires that if
wires are stapled to a piece of wood, such as a floor joist, the
thickness of the wood has to be at least 1 and 1/4 inches to
preclude someone from nailing through the wood and hitting a wire
stapled on the opposite side of the wood. When sawed beams were
used for floor joists, the beam width usually exceeded these
specifications, but with the advent of the prefabricated, wooden
"I" beams, used for floor joists and the like, wire stapled on one
side of the "I" beam is only about a 1/2 inch away from the
opposite side of the "I" beam. Nailing or screwing through such an
"I" beam and striking a wire stapled to the other side could cause
a serious electrical shock or cause a fire to start. A need exists
for a bracket which can be mounted to the web of a wooden "I" beam
to hold electrical wire at least the spacing required by the
Electrical Code, from the opposite side of the web.
Also during construction, available space for running wires is
greatly reduced as other crafts such as plumbing, heating,
ventilation, sprinkler piping, and vacuum systems run their
materials in the same joist cavity. Thus, a need arises for a
bracket to organize wiring to effectively utilize the space in such
cavity.
Furthermore a need exists for individual brackets which are
designed to be smoothly broken into separate sections along a
breakaway line so that an installing electrician need not carry a
great many different sizes of wire brackets. The sections broken
away should have the appropriate dimensions to fit different sizes
of prefabricated "I" beams as well as having the appropriate
flanges or plates to permit installing them with different
orientations on the various building members.
Further, a need exists for a bracket having indexing fingers which
would enable an installing electrician to properly position a
bracket on top of a ceiling joist used in roof trusses.
In the early days of running electrical wires in buildings, a
bracket, having a longitudinal series of holes, was used to
separate the individual wires--see U.S. Pat. No. 934,463 to Ritter.
These brackets, which were positioned adjacent to a ceiling, were
mounted using screws positioned at right angles to the wires
running through the bracket. The brackets in this patent had no
flexibility to be mounted along any of the other axes, or to be
broken into smaller portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,030 to Geer illustrates another bracket that
can be mounted between joists, but this bracket uses open-mouth
hangers to hold wire. Open mouth hangers do not provide a positive
method for stringing wire where the wire will remain in the
position so strung.
Other patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,419,675 to Carpenter, and
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,892 to Dougherty illustrate other hangers, but
these hangers mount in only one position where the hanger is
essentially horizontal.
From the above, it can be seen that a considerable improvement can
be brought to the electrical wiring trades if a bracket can be made
which can be secured to construction members in any one of three
axes of the bracket (length, width, or depth). The bracket should
have holes to run wire through so that, once installed, the wire
can not be easily moved. In addition, the bracket should be capable
of being broken into smaller portions to provide on-site
flexibility for an electrician to fit the brackets to appropriate
construction members along the entire run of the wire. Further,
this bracket should have indexing fingers to enable an installer to
properly install the bracket on top of joists such as ceiling
joists.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improved wire bracket which can
be used to hold wires neatly, and securely, within holes located in
the bracket.
The bracket is a one-piece object that is shaped to provide the
desired characteristics. The bracket, which has two separable
portions, has a series of holes extending along the longest axis
(the length) of each portion. The holes in both portions serve to
hold wire threaded through the holes. A breakaway line separates
the two portions to provide an easy way for an electrician to break
the bracket into two smaller individual portions so that each can
be used independently. Each of the individual portions has mounting
flanges or plates oriented on each of the three axes of the bracket
(length, width, and depth) to provide the flexibility to mount the
bracket on any of a number of individual construction members in a
way that can keep the electrical wires neat, orderly, and secure
from movement into another wire's run. The holes are also spaced
apart from one edge so that if the edge is placed against a wooden
"I" beam, the wires can remain at least the Electrical Code
required spacing away from the opposite side of the "I" beam.
Further, the bracket is provided with indexing fingers to enable an
installer to properly install the bracket on top of joists such as
ceiling joists.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily
carried into effect, a preferred embodiment of the invention will
now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the
accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is perspective view of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the invention shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the invention shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a right side view of the invention shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 5 is a back view of the invention on a side opposite the view
shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the invention with background
parts broken away taken along the line A--A in FIG. 5.
DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A preferred embodiment of the wire bracket 10 is shown in FIG. 1.
Wire bracket 10 has a single body 12 which has a series of
longitudinal holes 14 spaced along the length of the body. Holes 14
are used to hold wires that can be threaded through any individual
hole. Body 12 has a first portion 14 and a second portion 16
separated by a breakaway line 20, which portions are usually, but
not necessarily, of unequal size. Breakaway line 20 is formed as a
narrow solid piece of body 12 located between grooves 22 and 24.
The narrow piece of body 12 can be easily broken by an operator by
flexing first portion 14 toward second portion 16 so that two
smaller brackets can then be individually available for use.
Body 12 also has reinforced, side flanges 26, bottom flanges 28,
and embedded plates 30 formed on the body perpendicular to one of
the three axes of body 12 (oriented along the length, width, and
depth of the body). Side flanges 26, bottom flanges 28, and
embedded plates 30 each have a screw hole 32 for a fastener, for
instance a screw or a nail, passing through the respective flange
or plate so that wire bracket 10 can be fastened to an appropriate
construction member.
In addition, body 12 has a thin, extended surface 34 extending
between the edge with the bottom flanges 28 and the holes 14 which
surface keeps any wires threaded through the holes away from the
above identified edge an appropriate distance to meet specific NEC
code requirements for spacing distances. Thin, extended surface 34
lies between edge flanges 36, which are thicker in depth, located
both front and back as seen in FIG. 6, to provide strength to wire
bracket 10. Indexing fingers 38, best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, are
used to properly install the bracket 10 on top of a construction
member such as a ceiling joint by positioning the bracket 10 with
the indexing fingers abutting the top of the construction
member.
In operation, wire bracket 10 may be broken into first portion 16
and second portion 18 if a smaller wire bracket is needed. Used as
a whole or broken in two, the bracket(s) is placed against the
appropriate construction member and screws are driven through the
screw holes in the appropriate flange or plate. If bracket 10 is to
be mounted on top of a construction member indexing fingers 38 are
positioned on top and against the construction member to properly
position the bracket 10 for attachment to the construction member.
Electrical wire is then threaded through one of the holes in each
of the wire brackets installed on an electrical wire run.
While the fundamental novel features of the invention have been
shown and described, it should be understood that various
substitutions, modifications and variations may be made by those
skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of
the invention. Accordingly, all such modifications or variations
are included in the scope of the invention as defined by the
following claims.
* * * * *